Door is open for the Irish courtesy of Lehigh. Of course Xavier fans are probably saying the same thing about now!!
Nd didn't help themselves but serious refs? I hope all fouls before in bounds pass is called intentional all the time.
Xavier turned up the defensive pressure and our young guards wilted. Tu Hollaway showed how nice it iis to have an experienced Sr leading the team. He made some very tough shots and not only was great from 3pt he was able to get to the basket and either make a tough shot or get fouled or both. Still I thought we'd go to OT with Atkins at the line, then that lane violation call on Grant...which I was never aware that was even a rule. I'm not even sure why it is a rule. Very tough loss though in the end, with Lehigh beating Duke the door was open for a Sweet 16 run. But we may have the entire starting lineup back next year so things look excellent. Kudo's to Jack Cooley who really had a good night, some of those catches inside were just remarkable. He has great hands and I can't remember when I've seen a player have the discipline to catch and go right to the basket without putting the ball on the floor where it can get knocked away by a smaller player. Kevin McHale used to do that.
This is the same Xavier team that beat Purdue at W.Lafayette and went to Nashville and beat Vanderbilt as well. They were riding high at 8-0 and top 10 ranked when that fight happened, they lost their edge and struggled a lot after that but started to get it back at the end of the season. They may be darn tough from here on out.
The lane violation call on Grant was the exact call that had been made the day before against UNC Ashville in their loss to Syracuse. There was a lot of media discussion about that call and others in that game. To do the same thing yesterday is just asking to get called on it.
What an ignominious ending to an otherwise unexpectedly good season. It was a comedy of errors at the end, with Atkins' errant pass and Grant's penalty. I never thought I'd say this about any ND team, but we just plain blew it. The outcome of this game will haunt the team and fans until, hopefully, someday the team performs consistently at a level to make the players and fans forget this debacle. The only saving grace, if any, is that better teams than ND lost yesterday to teams not as good as Xavier.
I forgot about that wild long pass by Atkins, very ill advised and totally unnecessary at that time. But I'm over it pretty quick, it was a blown opportunity for sure and we shot ourselves in the foot. But in the end X, esp Tu Holloway, was able to get inside and create as well as hit from outside. Our guards just had nothing when it came to getting inside. Charles Barkley said that a lot of college teams are perimeter oriented with out good inside games and when they go cold it's over. We have Cooley but against good teams like X no other inside option. I'm pretty pumped about what talent we have coming back and add in the years experience for Grant and Connaugton then some new blood in the freshman class and we should be a better team next year.
We pooped the bed. One bad game and you're out. I've never seen so many mental errors in the final ten minutes. This Irish team was just not ready for prime time. Better days are ahead...
Let's hear it for Muffett's ladies who started their game with Liberty with an 11-0 lead and won by 31.
Muffets record at ND has really been outstanding, 1 Nat'l title, virtually an annual lock for the Sweet 16, last years Final game, 3 final fours...excellent coach and has consistently put a great product on the floor.
:idea: Cal was tough; with some very physical players underneath. That's a bad matchup for our speedy, guard-oriented team. I'm glad to have them in the rear-view mirror...
Irish women way to tough for St. Bony. When you've given up 13 pts. at the half, you've been playing some monster defense. As always it gets tougher next game.